On physical models for gate oxide breakdown

Si cleaning method without surface morphology change by cyanide solutions

“…on semiconductor surfaces seriously degrade semiconductor device characteristics, e.g., increasing the interface state density [1], decreasing the minority carrier diffusion length [2], the minority carrier life time [3,4], shifting the threshold voltage [5], etc., even when their concentrations are less than 10 10 atoms/cm 2 . Copper has been used as interconnect instead of aluminum (Al) alloys, and when the Si surfaces are contaminated by Cu, it easily diffuses into Si bulk even at room temperature [6] and forms deep levels in the Si band-gap [7], causing an increase in the leakage current density through gate oxide layers, especially in the case of ultrathin (i.e., less than 3 nm) SiO 2 layers [8].…”

Reaction of cyanide ions with copper on Si surfaces and its use for Si cleaning

“…Although low concentration Cu contaminants do not strongly affect the leakage current density of thick (e.g., 5 nm) SiO 2 layers, they drastically increase that of ultrathin (i.e., less than 3 nm) SiO 2 layers [10], which are very important for currently produced LSI. Cu contaminants on the Si surfaces diffuse through the Si wafers even at room temperature [11].…”

Surface plasmons and breakdown in thin silicon dioxide films on silicon

“…The wearout and breakdown of thin SiO 2 films has been extensively studied. A model involving local hole trapping and oxide field buildup during Fowler-Nordheim electron tunneling 1,2 has been proposed to explain oxide breakdown. The positive oxide charge ͑hole trapping͒ causes a reduced Fowler-Nordheim tunneling path and a lower effective barrier height for electrons due to the image charge effect.…”